Biographies of the participants of the String Academy
Naoka Aoki, Japan
Violin
Violinist Naoka Aoki, who won second prize at the Long- Thibaud-Crespin
2014 and she also got a special prize of the Prince Albert Ⅱ of Monaco (for
the best interpretation of the concerto). She also won second prize at the 4 th
China International Violin Competition (Qingdao) in 2014.
Born in Tokyo in 1992, she started playing the violin at the age of 3 and she
has achieved many prizes in Japan including a special diploma from the Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians 2004 and 1st Prize and three special prizes at the 78th Music Competition in Japan.
She pursued the Soloist Diploma Course at the Toho College of Music in Tokyo as the youngest student from 2009 to 2011, studied with Prof. Masafumi Hori.
From 2011 to 2015, she studied at the Royal College of Music under Prof. Mark Messenger
as a Heather Laverne Scholar supported by Ian Stoutzker Prize. She is currently studying at
the Royal Academy of Music under Prof. Mayumi Fujikawa.
Her debut was playing Paganini Violin Concerto No.1 with NHK Symphony orchestra. Later
she got opportunity to play amongst others with Tokyo Symphony Orchestra and Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra. She performed at various places as a soloist including Suntory Hall and
Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall.
As a chamber musician she also played various places in London including Wigmore Hall and
Royal Albert Hall.
Recently she has received the Tagore Gold Medal from HRH Prince of Wales at the Royal
College of Music where she graduated in 2015, she awarded as it the highest honor to give
the most generally deserving student. She also won 3rd Prize at the 6th Sendai International
Music Competition in June 2016.
Matthew Cohen, USA
Viola
American violist Matthew Cohen made his Carnegie Hall debut at the age of 15 as a soloist in the New York premiere of
Tomas Svoboda’s Sonata #2 for orchestra and solo string
quartet. He returned to Carnegie Hall in January to perform
York Bowen’s Phantasy for viola and piano in Weill Recital Hall. Recent accolades include 1st
prize at the 2015 VIVO International Competition and special prizewinner at the 2014 Primrose International Viola Competition. He has studied at the Juilliard School, Cleveland Institute of Music, and Colburn Conservatory and has performed as a soloist numerous times
with ensembles such as the Colburn Orchestra, Oregon Sinfonietta, and Oregon Symphony/Oregon Ballet Theater. He has performed chamber music with many distinguished artists
including Arnold Steinhardt, Daniel Hope, Paul Coletti, Ronald Leonard, Clive Greensmith,
Martin Beaver, Amit Peled, Sandra Rivers, and Joaquin Valdepeñas. His recording of York
Bowen’s Phantasy for viola and piano is available on the Soundset label. He plays a viola by
Helmuth Keller and bow by Paul Martin Siefried generously on loan from The Maestro Foundation and is a proud recipient of a Kovner Fellowship at the Juilliard School in the Master of
Music program where he studies with Heidi Castleman and Cynthia Phelps.
Iago Dominguez, Spain
Cello
Iago was born in Santiago de Compostela in 1995. He began his studies of
music at five years of age in the Conservatorio Profesional de Música of
Santiago de Compostela. Since then he has met and received strong
influences from Bárbara Switalska, Ivan Monighetti, Sol Gabetta, Asier Polo,
Johannes Moser, Daniel Müller-Schott and Lluis Claret. He has also studied
chamber music with teachers like Felix Renggli, Anton Kernjak, members of the Emerson
Quartett and Sergio Azzollini.
In 2007 Iago won a prize, the Premio Honorífico, in David Russell's international competition
for talented young players, and recorded his first CD with Galician Radio. Recently this year
he reached semifinal stage of Antonio Janigro International Cello Competition.
In 2012 he was invited by the Vladimir Spivakov Foundation to participate in the Moscow
Meets Friends Festival celebrated in Moscow. September 2012 saw his debut for the Real
Filharmonía de Galicia, interpreting J. Haydn's C Major concerto.
He has also been an active member of the youth orchestra of the Galician Symphonic
Orchestra since 2012, and in 2014 collaborates with the Galician Symphonic Orchestra under
the direction of Dima Slobodeniouk.
He has studied for seven years with Bárbara Switalska and this year he is on his second year
Bachelor at the Hochschule für Musik Basel with Ivan Monighetti and Sol Gabetta.
Iago plays an Emile Laurent cello from 1910, kindly loaned by the Boubo-Music Foundation.
Mohamed Hiber, France
Violin
Born in Paris in 1995, Mohamed began playing violin at age 7.
From 2006 to 2011 he studied with Bertrand Cervera and then in 2012 he has
entered in the class of Svetlin Roussev at the Paris National Conservatory, and
is now under the guidance of Prof. Ana Chumachenco and Zorik Tatevosyan at the school of Reina Sophia in Madrid.
Recently he performed for Maestro Lorin Maazel, Zahkar Bron, Joseph Silverstein, Edward
Grach in the Masterclass.
Mohamed was awarded the Prizes in the Competition in Paris, before he won 1st prize at the
5th Violin of the North Young Competition in Siberia in 2013.
He has appeared as a soloist with orchestras like Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and London
Symphony Chamber Orchestra.
In 2010 he received the invitation for the world tour by Daniel Barenboïm to perform with
the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, performed in the famous concert halls of the world.
He is also passionate and experienced chamber musician. He is regulary playing in Chember
Music Festivals like the Rolandseck-Festival and the Festival of Mozarteum in Salzburg.
He has performed chamber music with artists such as Daniel Barenboïm, Guy Braustein,
Daishin Kashimoto, Yuri Bashmet.
During the year 2016, Mohamed Hiber got the prize of the best student of the Royal Music School of Madrid from the hands of the Queen Sofia.
Mohamed Hiber is supported by the Fondation Havas Media,Fondation Albeniz and sponsored by "Colas" (bourse aux "jeunes talents").
Adrian Ibañez- Resjan, Spain
Violin
Adrian Ibañez- Resjan was born in Finland (Turku, 1997) to a russian-spanish
musical family. He was only 3 years old when he started violin lessons with
his grandfather Araik Resjan, who is also his teacher now in the Conservatory
of Helsinki. Adrian is also a student of the Sibelius-Academy’s Youth department with Réka Szilvay.
Adrian participated in masterclasses in Savonlinna Violin Academy (Ana Chumachenco,
Elina Vähälä), Oettingen International Violin Festival (Zakhar Bron), Turku Music Festival (Alexander Vinnitski) and Kuhmo Festival (Kaija Saarikettu).
This young violinist has been on stage since he was 4 years old. Adrian has experience also
as a soloist of orchestra, his debut was Mendelssohn Concerto with Concordia Orchestra in
Manchester (conductor: Jani Sivén). Later he played also with Turku Filharmonia and
Jyväskylä Sinfonietta (cond. Eri Klas and Anna-Maria Helsing).
Adrian got a Special Prize ”Promising violinist” in Oistrakh competition (Moscow, 2006) and
the 2nd Prize in Bukharest international competition (Romania, 2007). Later he became a
winner of Jyväskylä violin competition in Finland (category A in 2009 and category B in
2012). His latest award is a 1st Prize in the International Grand Prize Virtuoso Competition
2015.
This summer he has been invited as a young artist to the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival,
and also to the Menuhin Festival in Gstaad.
Eleanor Kendra James, Canada
Viola
Violist Eleanor Kendra James, from Vancouver, Canada, won prizes at
the 2014 Primrose International Viola Competition and Canadian Music Competition and has soloed with many orchestras in Canada.
As a chamber musician she has performed in Carnegie Hall and won
the Yale Chamber Music Competition in 2011. Kendra has attended music festivals in the
USA, Canada, China, and Europe. She studied at The Colburn School with Paul Coletti, at the
Yale School of Music with Ettore Causa and currently studies at the Hochschule für Musik
und Theater München with Nils Mönkemeyer. Kendra is Solo-Violist of the Folkwang Kammerorchester Essen. She holds scholarships from the BC Arts Council and Canada Council for
the Arts.
MinJi Kim, South Korea
Cello
Min Ji Kim was born in Korea in 1995. She studies at the Hochschule für
Musik Basel under Prof. Ivan Monighetti and Sol Gabetta. In 2010 she
was the winner of the Great mountain music festival concerto competition (Korea).
In 2012 she was awarded a special prize at the Prague Spring International Music Competition. In 2013 she won the second prize and the audience prize at the Gaspar Cassado International Cello Competition (Japan). In 2014 she won the Joong-Ang Music Competition (Korea). In that same year she was given young musician prize in the Feuermann International
Cello Competition in Berlin. She plays the Cello made by Julius Cesare Gigli in 1767 provided
by the Foundation Boubo Music.
Georgy Kovalev, Germany/Russia
Viola
Russian-German violist Georgy Kovalev, born in 1990 in Tiflis
(Georgia) is one of the leading violists of his generation. After
finishing his studies with Yuri Bashmet and Matthias Buchholz,
currently he is a student of Nobuko Imai at the Kronberg Academy.
Georgy Kovalev has performed with leading orchestras such as the Kremerata Baltica Chamber Orchestra, New Russia State Symphony Orchestra, Munich Chamber Orchestra, Moscow
Soloists Chamber Orchestra, New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra among others.
He is a prize winner and a finalist of international competitions such us Yuri Bashmet International Competition in Moscow, Tokyo International Viola Competition, Brahms International Competition.
In 2011 he received the Neva Foundation Prize awarded by the Verbier Festival.
His chamber music partners included Gidon Kremer, Christian Tetzlaff, Steven Isserlis, Yuri
Bashmet, Fazil Say, Frans Helmerson, Emanuel Ax, Jörg Widmann, Viviane Hagner, Claudio
Bohorquez, Lawrence Lesser, at renowned international music festivals such as Schubertiade, Verbier Festival, Ravinia Festival, Heidelberger Frühling, Rheingau Festival, Kronberg
Academy Festival.
Georgy Kovalev has performed at concert venues such as the Victoria Hall (Geneva), Theatre
des Champs-Elysées (Paris), Cologne Philharmonic Hall, Kioi Hall (Tokyo), Prinz Regent Theater Hall (Munich), Gordon Bennett Hall (Chicago), Grand Hall of Moscow Conservatory.
His future engagements include solo recitals and concertos in USA, Germany, Ireland, Holland, France, Italy, Austria and Greece.
Georgy plays a viola by Simon Bernand Fendt (London 1820) kindly on loan to him by the
Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben.
Christel Lee, USA
Violin
First-prize winner of the 2015 International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition in
Helsinki, Canadian-American violinist Christel Lee became the first North
American winner in its fifty-year history. She was subsequently invited in December 2015 to perform with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and chief
conductor John Storgårds on the orchestra’s tour to Birmingham and Dublin in celebration of
the 150th anniversary of the birth of Sibelius. Her success in Helsinki has been preceded by
numerous awards and distinctions, including the Second Prize and Audience Prize at the
2013 ARD International Competition in Munich.
As a soloist, Lee has appeared with orchestras such as the Finnish Radio Symphony, Bavarian
Radio Symphony, Korean Symphony, KBS Symphony, and the SWR-Stuttgart Radio Symphony. A multi-faceted artist, Lee is a passionate chamber musician, collaborating with leading
artists of her generation. She is invited regularly to festivals across Europe and North America, among which include the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Mozartfest Würzburg and Kronberg Academy Festivals.
Highlights from her future engagements include solo appearances with the Helsinki Philharmonic, Korean Symphony, and Philharmonie Südwestfalen, as well as her festival debuts in
Gstaad, the Cantabile Festival in Lisbon and Settimane Musicali Ascona in Locarno.
Of Korean heritage, Lee was born in Bloomington and began the violin at the age of five in
Vancouver, Canada. She later relocated to New York City, attending the Professional Children's School and graduating from the Juilliard School in 2011. She concluded her studies at
the Kronberg Academy and at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich under the
tutelage of Ana Chumachenco.
Lee plays on a violin by Lorenzo Storioni from 1781, which has been kindly on loan to her
from the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben in Hamburg since 2015.
Tanner Menees, USA
Viola
Tanner Menees started playing the violin at age four and picked up the viola
at age seventeen. As a violist, Mr. Menees is an aspiring chamber musician
and has studied chamber music with members of the Tokyo, Guarneri, Cleveland, Vermeer, Alban Berg, and Ebene Quartets. As a chamber musician, Mr.
Menees has had the privilege to perform alongside such artists as Gary Hoffman, Clive
Greensmith, Martin Beaver, Ronald Leonard, and Richie Hawley as part of the Colburn
Chamber Music Society. He has also taken part in chamber music festivals such as the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, the Ravinia Stean’s Music Institute, the Juilliard String Quartet
Seminar, and the McGill Internatinoal String Quartet Academy In 2010, Mr. Menees per-
formed in Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall as a finalist of the International Chamber Music and
Ensembles Competition, and in 2011 took second prize at the Music Teachers National Association Chamber Music Competition as a member of the Kammer Trio. Mr. Menees is committed orchestral musician as well, having appeared as principal viola with the Colburn Orchestra under the batons of Sir Neville Marriner, Yehuda Gilad, and Robert Spano. As a soloist, Mr. Menees has performed with the Colburn Orchestra under the direction of Thierry
Fischer. Mr. Menees is an Artist Diploma candidate at the Colburn Conservatory of Music,
where he studies with Paul Coletti.
Naduo Zhang, China
Cello
Born in 1995, Naduo Zhang started the cello at the age of 5. In 2008, she attended the middle school affiliated to Shanghai Conservatory and studied
cello with Dahai Liu. In 2011, she began studies with Prof. Min Cao. She has
played in master class for D. Ishizaka, David Strange, Steven Doane, David
Geber, Hatto Beyerle and the Juilliard Quartet. The Mix Quartet was founded
in 2010 by Naduo and her classmates. The Mix Quartet obtained the second prize of Haydn
Chamber Music Competition in Shanghai in 2011 and won the Chamber Music Competition
in Central Conservatory in 2012. The Mix Quartet was invited to Sibelius Academy in Finland
for studying and performed in Helsinki Music Hall in April 2012. Naduo went to Meadowmount school of music on full scholarship in June 2013, where she studied with Clive
Greensmith, and Hans Jorgen Jensen. In 2014 she joined Prof. Julius Berger’s class at Augsburg University.
Miriam Prandi, Italien
Cello
Italian cellist Miriam Prandi is recognized as one of the fastest rising stars of her generation, winning praise for her passionate performances and deep rich tone. She expresses her
musical diversity not only as a solo cellist, but also as a pianist and chamber musician. Following her performance of the Dvořák Cello Concerto at Zurich Tonhalle, she was praised by the Schweizer Musikzeitung for her “sincerity of expression
which is surprising for her young age” and that “one gets the impression that the cellist lives
only within her playing.”
Ms. Prandi is the winner of the 2014 Rahn Musikpreis, personally awarded by Chairman Sol
Gabetta, has won First Prize of the Geminiani Competition in Verona and the Muzio Clementi
Prize in Rome, and is also the recipient of scholarships from the Lyra Stiftung, the Ambrosoli
Foundation, the Rudolf von Tobel Studienstiftung, and the Rahn Kulturfonds.
Born in Mantova, Italy in 1990, Ms. Prandi received her Soloist Master with ‘Auszeichnung’
from the Hochschule der Kuenste Bern where she was a student of Antonio Meneses. She is
also strongly influenced by her studies with Ivan Monighetti and Sol Gabetta.
Miriam Prandi has performed solo recitals across Europe and North America, Israel, and has
made appearances with the Orchestra Giovanile Italiana, the Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana,
the Argovia Philharmonic at Tonhalle Grosser Saal Zurich, the Berner Symphonieorchester at
the Kulturcasino Bern, and with the Klaipeda Chamber Orchestra at the Tonhalle in Zurich.
In addition Ms. Prandi is an avid chamber musician, performing as cellist of the renowned
delian::quartett. She has also taken part a.o. in the Oleg Kagan Musikfest, Kronberg Academy’s Chamber Music Connects the World and has collaborated with such renowned artists
as S.Accardo, A.Lucchesini, N.Gutman, P.De Maria, and P.Vernikov.
Clara Saïtkoulov, France
Violin
Born in Paris in 1999, Clara Saïtkoulov started to play the violin at the age of six.
She studied with Larissa Kolos, Igor Volochine and Miroslaw
Russin and joined the class of Prof. Garlitsky at the Paris Consevatory in 2014.
She won the 1st Prize of the Vatelot-Rampal Competition for young musicians in 2009.
Clara has performed as a soloist and in chamber music in France, Italy, Switzerland, Turkey,
Ireland, Germany and Russia. She is a frequent guest of festivals such as Moscow meets
Friends, Liszt en Provence (France), Kinsale Arts Week (Ireland) and Giovanni Concertisti in
Umbria (Italy).
In 2012 and 2013 she was invited to play with the Tauride Palace Symphony Orchestra and
the Orchestra of Children’s Philarmony in St. Petersburg and Moscow.
She actively performs chamber music repertoire, most frequently in a piano trio. She recorded her first CD of the trios of Mendelssohn, Dvorak and Rachmaninov in 2015.
In 2016 Clara made her debut recital in Salle Gaveau, Paris.
She plays a modern violin made in Rome by Michel Eggiman in 2005.
Dorothea Schupelius, Germany
Violin
Born in Berlin, in 1996, Dorothea Schupelius took her first violin lessons with
eight yeas. At the age of ten she entered the German Youth Competition
„Jugend musiziert“ and achieved two first prizes. In 2009 Dorothea was
awarded the „Klassikpreis“, a special price for young musicians in Berlin. One
year on she won the first prize in the national youth competition for solo violin and got the
highest achievable rating. She also got several special awards by the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben.
Dorothea studied with Angela Sinell, former Konzertmeister of the Bavarian Symphony Orchestra, in Berlin. In 2012 she won a funded place at the Yehudi Menuhin School in Surrey,
England. She completed her studies there in 2015. Since her debut with the Homburg Symphony Orchestra in 2007, Dorothea has played numerous solo recitals and solo works with
orchestras in Germany, England, Belgium and Austria.
She took part in masterclasses e.g. at Kronberg Academy and at the Academie Internationale
de Musique de Montpellier, where she worked among others with Nils Mönckemeyer, Christoph Schickedanz and Natasha Boyarsky. Since September 2015 Dorothea is a foundation
scholar at the Royal Collge of Music, where she studies with Prof. Itzhak Rashkovsky. Dorothea plays a violin by Francesco Ruggeri , dated 1675, that has been given to her as a loan
by the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben.
Felix Vermeirsch, Belgium
Cello
Felix Vermeirsch, cellist / composer, is born in Belgium in 1999.
At the age of 6, he started playing the piano. Soon, he started composing
and at the age of 12, he already received the medal “Belgian Artistic Promotion” for his composition for piano in the Cantabile Competition for
professional composers.
In the meantime, 22 music books and 1 CD have been edited.
Felix also composes music for cello, choir, chamber orchestra and symphonic orchestra. His
inspiring music has been performed at festivals and concerts in Belgium, the Netherlands,
Germany and France.
At the age of 8, he started playing the cello. Since 2013, he is studying cello in Kronberg in
the class of István Várdai.
Felix won the finals of “Belfius Classics Competition”, the “International Edmond Baert Cello
Competition” and “Concours de Musique Breughel”, recorded by RTBF.
He was selected for International Music Festivals as “Mit Musik Miteinander” and “Kronberg
Academy Festival”.
Felix took masterclasses with the cello from Frans Helmerson, Laszlo Fenyö, Reinhard Latzko
and France Springuel.
He plays cello concerti from Bach, Vivaldi, Haydn, Saint Saëns, Lalo, Elgar and Tchaikovsky
with orchestras as “Anima Musicae Chamber Orchestra”, “Chamber Orchestra Bruges”,
“Vlaams Brabants Symphony Orchestra”, and ”Flanders Symphony Orchestra”.
Felix performed in Belgium, France, Germany, Spain, Hungary and Russia.
Arata Yumi, Japan
Violin
Arata Yumi already appeared as soloist with orchestras including the Tokyo
Symphony Orchestra, the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, the National Philharmonic of Ukraine, among others. In March 2015, he made his
debut in Taipei as a substitute for Midori Goto, with National Symphony
Orchestra of Taiwan and Maestra Xian Zhang.
As a chamber musician he gives recitals in Japan and Switzerland regularly.
Most recently, in June 2015, he took part in the ICEP(International Community Engagement
Programm) and performed String quartet with Midori Goto.
Born in Tokyo in 1992, Arata Yumi is currently a student of the class of Prof. Ilya Gringolts at
the ZHdK (Zurich University of the Arts). He previously has studied with Prof. Akiko Tatsumi
and Prof. Zakhar Bron.
He took part in masterclasses given by Erich Höbarth, Christian Tetzlaff, Jean-Jacques Kantorow, Pamela Frank, Ingolf Turban, Midori Goto and Leonidas Kavakos.
As a young soloist he won the first prizes at competitions, such as Wieniawski & Lipinski
competition in Lublin, G.B. Guadagnini competition Tokyo. He was the youngest finalist at
the 14th Henryk Wieniawski international violin competition in Poznan (2011) and most recently he won the 1st prize at Kiefer Hablitzel competition in Bern (2016).